NAD, Denon Yamaha etc headphone amplifiers

[Blackdawn]

Do NAD, Denon or Yamaha etc make headpone amplifiers, if not, why not?

Now that headphones are even more popular than they ever were and yearly sales are pretty high, you expect common brands to produce budget - mid spec headphone amplifiers for the mass market. What do people think?

Is it likely that the larger brands will produce these in the near future or are they too much of a niche product?

 

[Sizzers]

The “booming sales” headlines of headphones which people read also includes the ever increasing sales of in-ear and portable phones for iPods etc. as they are all calculated under the same umbrella, so in some respects it’s rather a misnomer.

Unless you’re a dedicated head-fier using a CDP or PC/DAC with no main amp - or your main amp doesn’t have a headphone jack - then where’s the demand for a mainstream manufacturer to enter the market?

 

[Blackdawn]

Thanks sizzers, I would have said the same about DAC's in that they're not essential upgrade (ipods, PC, CD player already have them build-in) but have sold well. Some of the larger hifi names sell DAC's like NAD and Cambridge audio etc why not the same for headphone amps?

 

[idc]

I think the reason is because whilst there has been a huge boom in headphone listening, it has been driven by music from ipods, other mp3 players and phones. Audiophiles using headphones are catered for by the likes of NAD, Denon and Yamaha by the headphone sockets in their amps. Audiophiles who exclusively use headphones are still pretty rare.